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Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Spelling helpers~ Rules and a Resource to Share

Many times I hear how people find that spelling rules don't always help their early speller. I would have to agree to some extent. I have found that when introducing spelling to a younger learner it can be hard at times,( especially for special needs children). My experience this far has been that when introducing spelling (encoding) AND rules at the same time it can be too much, too soon for many learners.

Later on, as the learner becomes more comfortable with the whole process of spelling ( which includes a variety of skills~ writing, sounding out, memorization) rules "can" be really helpful and actually act as memory hooks for a struggling speller. They don't always have to be a nuisance. There is a place for spelling rules, knowing when and how can be the trick as to how successful you and your learners is with them.

I found a link to share that provides a pdf of the top 10 spelling rules. I thought it was very useful so decided to print out our own for our spelling notebook.

Along with the spelling rules we are using a "new to us" text ( which I have written about previously) Tricks of the Trade by Gayle Graham, M Ed. And have been adding to this book as we work along and advance in our spelling. You can find my a review of this book here. I promised I would talk more about this and I have to say it is an excellent read for parents who are seeing their child struggle in spelling. Gayle's "How to Teach Any Child To Spell" is an easy, quick read. It has some great points and is extremely helpful. Kind of filling a parents "spelling toolbox" with some great tips and strategies for teaching spelling.

I also found a great new site that is interactive in helping children to practice spelling its called Type and Spell. An interactive site that is from grades 1-6 and also has practice for SAT Vocabulary too.

9/15/11 Update~ ** here is a few more resources you can use for spelling rules:Reading From Scratch - an online list of rules you can use to make cards or add to a mini office, make a notebooking page or just refer to when needed.Scholastic Spelling Rules Chart - to print

9/16/11 update~ ** I had been trying to find a more complete list of spelling rules and had just started creating our own when a wonderful homeschool mom ( thank you Cynthia Albright) shared this great resource with me: Spelling Rules Cards and also this one for spelling cards as well. Now I don't have to take the time and write out our own! ~
Off to work on more studies~

2 comments:

Wow! What a great list of resources. I have always been a big proponent of Sequential Spelling, but think I need some additional resources for my youngest two. I'm going to print off the spelling rules for them to keep in their notebooks and check out the other resources. Thanks for sharing.

Your very welcome~ and something to think of with these is to cut them out and put them on a mini office or have them make a poster they can add to, since there are more spelling rules than these 10~ need to hunt for more, lol Not sure if you know, but we too, are using SS as well. We like it but I want more "meaty" things we can use while working on this so I use our reading approach "phono graphix" with the mapping and looping of syllables and pull in the rules with it as well. My youngest is doing well with SS so far~ :)

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"God didn't create schools. he created families, because that was his plan for the training and nurture of children. He gave the job for the raising and educating of children squarely to the parents, and those who have abrogated their authority and turned their responsibilities over to other "experts" are short-circuiting their own success." ~ Mary Hood